Bill Gates
Gerard Miller | CNBC
Bill Gates not a lover of cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens.
Speaking at a TechCrunch Talk on climate change on Tuesday, billionaire Microsoft The co-founder describes the phenomenon as “100% based on the bigger fool theory,” referring to the idea that overvalued assets will appreciate when enough investors are willing to pay a lot. more for them.
Gates joked that “expensive digital images of monkeys” would “improve the world immensely”, referring to the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s NFT collection.
NFTs are non-exchangeable tokens. They are often offer as a way to prove ownership of digital assets such as art or sports collectibles. But critics consider them to be overhyped and potentially harmful to the environment due to the power-hungry nature of cryptocurrencies. Multiple NFTs are built on the back-end network ethereumsecond largest token.
“I’m used to asset classes … like a farm where they have output, or like a company where they make a product,” Gates said.
As for crypto, “I’m not into that,” Gates added. “I’m not long or short on any of that.”
Cryptocurrencies have plummeted this week after Celsius, a crypto-lending company, suspend all account withdrawals. The collapse has raised fears of a potential default event for degrees Celsius – and possible trigger effect for other parts of the cryptocurrency market. For their part, Celsius says they are “working around the clock for our community.”
The battered crypto world has filled the wound following the collapse of the UST – a so-called “stablecoin” meaning $1 worth – and luna, its sister token. At their peak, both cryptocurrencies were worth a total of $60 billion.
Bitcoin was last trading at $21,107 on Wednesday, down 7% over the past 24 hours. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has erased more than half of its value since the beginning of 2022.
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